Shootout defeat isn't a total loss for Minnesota Wild, who move up in standings

Shootout defeat isn't a total loss as Wild move up

For a team sorely in need of points, a loss Sunday afternoon felt a lot like a win.

The Wild came from a goal down to tie the score in the third period before losing 2-1 in a shootout to the Detroit Red Wings at the Xcel Energy Center, securing one point for the shootout loss and climbing from 10th place in the Western Conference into a tie for seventh.

The unsettling part of the afternoon occurred when Todd Bertuzzi, the hockey player Minnesota fans most love to hate, scored the clinching shootout goal as many of the 18,912 in attendance booed his every step.

"No better place to get two points and also score," he said after a storybook finish to the 1,000th game of his NHL career. "It's always a great atmosphere."

While Bertuzzi had his family on hand to celebrate his landmark game, Martin Havlat recorded a milestone of his own by taking a Brent Burns pass and soloing in to beat goaltender Jimmy Howard five-hole and tie the score less than four minutes after the Red Wings had gained the lead.

For Havlat, who played in his 600th NHL game last week, it was his 205th goal to go with 295 assists for 500 career points.

"A lucky bounce to Burnsie, and he made a great pass," he said.

The goal was big, Havlat added, because "any point right now is important. We're right there with everybody else."

The 68 points moved Minnesota into a tie with Dallas, Los Angeles and Anaheim for seventh in the West.

"We did what we had to do; we got a point," center John Madden said.

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"We played against a really good team, without probably our best player (injured center Mikko Koivu). We'll keep our heads up and keep going from here."

Although the Red Wings, who won their fifth in a row, outshot the Wild 39-26, Niklas Backstrom produced another outstanding effort with 38 saves.

Backstrom is 5-2-1 with a 1.36 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage in his past eight starts, allowing one goal or none in five of those games.

So Sunday's effort was no surprise to Minnesota coach Todd Richards.

"It's something you come to expect now, making certain saves look easy and making some saves that you aren't expecting him to make," he said.

Backstrom deflected the praise, pointing to the help from his defense and talking about how Kyle Brodziak, Matt Cullen and Madden gobbled up most of the minutes at center Sunday with Koivu sidelined by a hand injury suffered in Friday's victory over Anaheim.

"Three centermen's a tough job," Backstrom said, "especially against a team like this. They played a huge game for us."

Cullen called that one point "a character point."

"We fought back against a very good team and gave ourselves plenty of opportunity to win," he said. "Nikky played unbelievable in the nets again for us and kept us alive. Obviously, you want that other point, but at the same time we just have to keep things in perspective and take the point and keep going."

Brodziak, who was elevated to Minnesota's top line in place of Koivu, talked about the importance of getting one point against the high-flying Red Wings, coming at the end of a 29-game stretch in which the Wild have totaled 38 points.

"I think in the last little while we've put ourselves in a pretty good spot," he said. "It's time to just keep the ball rolling."